Nathan for You
Nathan for You is an American docu-reality comedy television series starring Canadian comedian Nathan Fielder. The series was created by Fielder and Michael Koman and premiered on February 28, 2013, on the American cable television network Comedy Central.[2] In the general premise of the series, Fielder plays a fictionalized off-kilter version of himself, trying to use his business background and life experiences to help struggling companies and people, frequently offering them outlandish strategies, parodying the methods of marketing and management consultants.[3] Twenty-seven of the show's 32 episodes follow this structure as applied to one or more businesses in the Southern California area, with five others ("The Claw of Shame", "The Hero", "A Celebration", "The Anecdote", and "Finding Frances") departing from the business advice format to showcase other comedic premises.
Nathan for You
Nathan Fielder
Nathan Fielder
United States
English
4
32 (list of episodes)
- Nathan Fielder
- Michael Koman
- Dave Kneebone
- Tim Heidecker
- Eric Wareheim
21 minutes
- Abso Lutely Productions
- Blow Out Productions
- W·D·M
- Comedy Partners
February 28, 2013 –
November 9, 2017
The series ran for four seasons. In October 2018, Comedy Central confirmed that Nathan for You had ended, with Fielder deciding to focus on other projects.[4] It received acclaim from critics, several of whom considered it one of the best TV shows of the 2010s.
Background[edit]
The series centers on Nathan Fielder, a business school graduate and consultant whose aim is to help struggling businesses. His marketing proposals are often outlandish and elaborate.[5] One of the show's long-running story arcs concerns Fielder and his social awkwardness. Throughout episodes, his confidence is eroded as his ideas fail.[5] In the show's first season, Fielder is unaware people do not enjoy his company.[6] The character is based on Fielder's real life and his own struggles with social anxiety; he has noted that he did not want the character to "feel like a comedy character" but one that delivers the "most authentic moments from myself."[7]
Production[edit]
Nathan for You was created by comedian Nathan Fielder and writer Michael Koman. The show evolved out of segments on the Canadian news satire series This Hour Has 22 Minutes titled "Nathan On Your Side," wherein Fielder played a consumer advocate. The show was greenlit following the cancellation of Jon Benjamin Has a Van, which Fielder also wrote and appeared in.[8] Part of the series' inspiration came from Fielder's fascination with the subprime mortgage crisis, and how he found that it was rooted in "these personal moments between people where someone senses something's wrong, but they don't want to speak up."[7]
Marketing ideas were developed in myriad ways. Often, Fielder and the writing team came up with an idea specifically for the business, while other times, concepts were formed in a completely unrelated way. Some ideas were thrown out because they were deemed not visually interesting or engaging for viewers.
Although each episode had a loose script for Fielder, much of the dialogue was improvised. Although the featured businesses were real and consented to be filmed, the employees were not told it was for a comedy show, so their reactions to Fielder's antics are genuine. As a result, the show's writing process involved "a lot of guessing and testing," according to Fielder. Roughly 90 hours of footage were required to make each 22-minute episode.[6] Episodes were constantly re-written based on the interactions Fielder received.[6] Fielder called the show's process "a very inefficient way of making TV."[7]
History[edit]
The series premiere garnered 354,000 viewers, improving in its second episode to 570,000.[9][10] A special sneak peek episode that aired on March 13, 2013, after an episode of Workaholics further increased viewership, ending up at 615,000.[11] The following episode, airing on March 14, had 428,000 viewers.[12] The next week on March 21, ratings dropped further, landing at 394,000 viewers.[13] On April 26, 2013, Comedy Central renewed the series for a second season of 8 episodes.[14] Season 3 premiered on October 15, 2015.[15] On December 10, 2015, Comedy Central picked up the show for a fourth season.[16] The fourth season premiered on September 28, 2017, preceded by a one-hour special, "Nathan for You: A Celebration", which aired the week before.[17] In June 2018, it was announced that Nathan for You would stream on Hulu.[18]
Reception[edit]
Nathan for You received critical acclaim. On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the first season holds an approval rating of 89% with an average rating of 8/10, based on 9 reviews.[29] The second season has an approval rating of 100% with an average rating of 8.3/10, based on 10 reviews, with a critics consensus of, "Nathan for You arrived a brilliant comedy, but viewers will feel more acclimated to the series' cringeworthy wit in a second season that makes great use of Nathan Fielder's unflappable awkwardness."[30] The third season has an approval rating of 100% with an average rating of 9.6/10, based on 12 reviews, with a critics consensus of, "Nathan for You continues to gain dimensionality in its third season, still plumbing horrified laughs while also unearthing a great deal of heart in its shameless star."[31] The fourth season has an approval rating of 100% with an average rating of 9/10, based on 14 reviews, with a critics consensus of, "Nathan for You is an extraordinary program that effectively blurs the lines between television and reality."[32]
Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times dubbed it "the television series with the most incisive take on the 21st-century economy," praising Fielder for "illuminating the relationship between the economy and absurdity."[33] John Thorp of The Guardian called its central concept "genius," finding it "functions as a razor-sharp satire of commercialism, with a surprising undercurrent of genuine pathos."[5] Willa Paskin of Slate found it "brilliant, fascinating, and uncomfortable."[34] Academy Award-winning film director Errol Morris called the Season 4 finale, "Finding Frances", "unfathomably great."[35] Steve Greene from IndieWire called Nathan for You the greatest reality television series ever made.[36]
The series won Best Comedy/Variety Sketch Series at the 71st Writers Guild of America Awards in 2019,[37] and was nominated in same category at the ceremonies in 2017[38] and 2018.[39] At the 2018 WGA Awards ceremony, it received an additional nomination for Best Television Writing in a Comedy/Variety Special for the episode "A Celebration".[39] Nathan for You was included on lists of the best shows of the 2010s published by Paste,[40] The A.V. Club,[41] IndieWire,[42] GQ,[43] Stuff,[44] /Film,[45] Consequence,[46] Film School Rejects,[47] and GamesRadar+.[48] In 2021, The New York Times named it one of the best comedy series of the 21st century.[49]